Long-Term Security Treaty Between Iraq and America ‘Rejected’

On top of all the other Iraq-related news — including the book by Scott McClellan — last week, the leader of Iraq’s Parliamentary majority rejected the one piece of legislation Washington wants the most: a convention codifying America’s long-term presence in that nation.

“Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, the leader of the majority in Council of Representatives, said in a statement that ‘there is a national consensus on rejecting many of the points raised by the American side in this convention, because they would compromise the national sovereignty of Iraq. … From the beginning we stressed and continue to stress the importance that any agreement not violate our national sovereignty and the need for a commitment to transparency with regard to these matters; the people of Iraq must be well-informed about this, since these matters concern their lives today and in the future.”

The article also includes coverage of the latest protests conducted by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s faction, which decries the convention for ‘expropriating’ Iraqi sovereignty and warns neighboring countries that if such a treaty is agreed to in Iraq – the same fate waits them as well.

Translated By James Jacobson

May 31, 2008

Iraq – Sotal Iraq – Original Article (Arabic)

Baghdad: Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim , the leader of the majority in Council of Representatives [Parliament], announced that the Iraqi and American sides have failed to reach an agreement on a “long-term convention” between Baghdad and Washington.

The United Iraqi Alliance issued a statement yesterday [May 30] that Al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the central party in the United Iraqi Alliance bloc, confirmed that “there is a national consensus on rejecting many of the points raised by the American side in this convention, because they would compromise the national sovereignty of Iraq.”

The statement added that, “From the beginning we stressed and continue to stress the importance that any agreement not violate our national sovereignty and the need for a commitment to transparency with regard to these matters; the people of Iraq must be well-informed about this, since these matters concern their lives today and in the future.”